Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Book Review

Please note that this review is as spoil free as I could possibly make it whilst making this post worthwhile. It is a little sweary and does link to websites that have spoilers. If you haven’t read the book yet and don’t want to be spoiled by any of the details at all then do not read ahead.

I didn’t get the hype surrounding this script for the longest time and it wasn’t until two days before the release date that I finally bit the bullet, marched into Waterstones and paid for the deposit on the joint account (heh heh). We weren’t going to be in Cardiff until the following Monday so I didn’t pick up my copy until the initial hype has faded and then I didn’t even get to read it properly straight the way because I suffered with a terrible migraine for twenty-four hours straight. I did manage a few scenes of part one before bed on the Monday night before the pain became unbearable and I still wasn’t too bothered.

Having a hard time getting on with #TheCursedChild. I think my years of reading fanfic has spoiled it for me 😩

One thing that was really bothering me about the synopsis and everything with The Cursed Child is that even though it’s written by Rowling and therefore has her blessing as master of the Harry Potter universe is that it really feels like one big fanfic from start to finish. I’ve read fanfics with better a plot and that’s not saying that fanfic authors are crap – it’s just that the story doesn’t feel real. There are so many extra details about the Potter universe that just doesn’t sit right with me like don’t even get me started about the trolley witch on the Hogwarts Express – stop unlocking these flimsy extra bits about the well-known and loved characters in HP land in my head.

And then I’m like… right so Albus frickin’ hates Harry for being the son of the Boy Who Lived and uses that as an excuse to be a complete dick in some scenes. Eyes open Albus, your Dad loves you stop being such a prick about it. And that – that’s a whole other story with what’s wrong for me with this script.

Okay, okay. Crappy plot put aside we need to talk about Draco Malfoy. I really disliked Draco in the books but he got a slight reprieve in Half Blood Prince for not being that much of a prat and also kind of being a Deatheater wimp. I thought from the off that he was snivelling little git that needed to grow out of his Daddy’s shadow and he does, he really does in this play. I was bouncing off the walls when Draco shows emotion and caring during some scenes, a damn sight more than his own Dad showed him in the books. Newsflash, Draco can actually communicate with Harry and the gang without being a total tosspot about it. Whuttt? At one point they’re all just grown-ups working together and not chucking immature school-boy insults at eachother. Well done, well done *slow clap*.

If anything came to me in this play it was how the characters we’re all so familiar with are fleshed out to become adults who have experienced the wisdom of age. Harry’s an actual Dad who does Dad things and Ginny, she does all those long suffering Mum of three kids and husband to the Harry Potter things that make her even more awesome than before. Whilst Ron plays the court jester throughout The Cursed Child (which is a shame but hey ho), Ginny is cool and collected and just knows how to let everyone find their way together like a Mum does. Although, she does get pretty pissed at Harry for his crappy attempt at parenting Albus and making everything worse but it’s not like Albus does himself any favours.

I can’t explain to you how much Albus annoys me for being so frickin’ selfish when all his Dad did was fight Voldy so that he wouldn’t have to live in a Deatheater dictatorship world and actually be born. The only thing that kind of made me like him was Scorpius and their friendship. Basically Albus only wants to be friends with him because he’s Draco’s son and he thinks it will piss off his Dad but Scorpius holds his own as a mate and he’s just really, really awesome. Those two compliment eachother really well and I can see Scorpius stopping Albus from being so hot-headed after this story finished – I ship them so hard for future fanfic.

All in all this was a character-driven triumph of a play script. Hermione kicks arse as Minister of Magic (get in!), McGonagall kicks even more arse as headmistress and Ron is a bit of a bumbling idiot but that’s okay. Let’s not talk about Delphi at all until I’ve seen the play because she strikes me just a massive Mary-Sue and I can’t even get over her right now.

I read the script, now I wanna see the play so bad. Tickets are sold out everywhere and even though it’s pretty easy for us to get down to London I don’t see us being able to see it anytime soon even if Rick is obsessed with the Friday Forty.

Have you read the new Harry Potter book or seen the play? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments.